Americans Abroad

Bobby Wood and Andrew Wooten Tally in Germany

The 2016-17 Bundesliga season opened this weekend, and Bobby Wood promptly displayed his strength and skill for his new team. One level below, Andrew Wooten scored his first goal in nearly a year.

BY
Brian Sciaretta
Posted
August 28, 2016
5:30 PM

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Wood scores in Bundesliga debut

Earlier this year, as U.S. national team forward Bobby Wood was tearing up the 2.Bundesliga with Union Berlin, former U.S. U-20 head coach Thomas Rongen admitted to me that he was still not convinced Wood was going to find success in the Bundesliga. He said Wood, whom he coached in the 2011 U-20 cycle, was going to get his chance at the highest level in Germany but it was curious to see how he would do.

Wood, 23, is off to a great start for his new club, Hamburg SV, which he joined over the summer.

On Saturday’s opening game, he scored a special “Route 1-style” goal against Ingolstadt when he took a long punt from his own goalkeeper, muscled off a defender, and hit a long-range left-footed shot to beat the keeper. It was refreshing to see a striker choose to stay on his feet and finish the job rather than looking for a penalty.

The game ended 1-1 and featured another Yank, Ingolstadt midfielder Alfredo Morales, who played 81 minutes.

Orozco, Tijuana continue to surprise

Michael Orozco, 30, has been maligned by U.S. fans for his international performances, including infamous red cards at the 2008 Olympics and in the third-place game of the 2016 Copa America. Last season for Tijuana Orozco hardly played but still found his way onto the Copa roster.

These days he’s starting for Tijuana every week and the club is surprisingly in first place in Liga MX after seven games. On Friday, Orozco played right back in a 1-0 win over Pumas and Tijuana has now conceded just five goals all season. It also boasts the best goal differential in Mexico right now—plus-nine.

Johannsson completes comeback

It has been a while since Aron Johannsson played in a meaningful game. In fact, it’s been over 11 months since his last Bundesliga appearance for Werder Bremen.

On Friday Johannsson received the start for Werder in its opener against Bayern Munich. It didn't go well. Johannsson barely saw the ball in the 6-0 loss, as Bayern Munich established control from the opening whistle and never let go.

That said, the mere fact that Johannsson saw action qualifies as good news for the Alabama native.

Cameron returns to starting XI

After a solid Copa America in June, Geoff Cameron did not see the field in Stoke City’s first two games of the Premier League season. That changed on Saturday when the Massachusetts native was given the start in central defense on the road against Everton.

Everton ended up winning on a penalty called against Stoke’s Phil Bardsley. The ensuing penalty was taken by Leighton Baines and his kick from the spot bounced off the post, hit a diving goalkeeper Shay Given before rolling back into the net. It was the only goal in a 1-0 Everton win.

Stoke has just one point in three games but Cameron played well in the loss and should be poised for more minutes following the international break. Now Stoke needs to claw toward midtable where it seems to finish on an annual basis.

Johnson and Chandler impress

In the opening weekend in the Bundesliga, two Americans came off the bench to contribute to impressive wins.

With Eintracht Frankfurt up 1-0 on Schalke, Timothy Chandler came on in the 56th minute at right back to help preserve the scoreline. It was a minor upset for the home team, which was reduced to 10 players in the 80th minute. Chandler needs to make a case for minutes this season, and a positive performance across 34 minutes can't hurt.

Borussia Monchengladbach defeated Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 on Saturday with Fabian Johnson coming into the game at right midfield just after the hour mark. He helped win the ball on the play leading to Lars Stindl's game-winning goal in the 85th minute.

Johnson is normally a starter for Monchengladbach but was coming off a 90-minute effort in a Champions League qualifying win on Wednesday over Young Boys.

Yedlin makes Newcastle debut

DeAndre Yedlin moved from Tottenham to Newcastle in the middle of the week so it was always unlikely he was going to start on Saturday against Brighton & Hove Albion.

The Seattle native did make a cameo appearance off the bench in the 88th minute of the 2-0 win as Newcastle moved into fourth place in the English Championship.